Being as I’m reading absolutely anything set in the seventeenth century at the moment, it’s no surprise that includes a bit of erotica, as Sweet Alice by Leelou Cervant is. I don’t mind erotica, it’s not totally my cup of tea, but neither am I against it. If you find explicit sex scenes unpleasant or offensive, this book… Read on
Being as I don’t know as much as I’d like about the history of early modern Spain, I’m currently trying to rectify this at present. Enter Robert Goodwin’s book, Spain: The Centre of the World, 1519-1682, which I listened to in audiobook format with a duration of some 21 hours. This is, in my opinion, an excellent overview… Read on
Lady on the Coin, written by Margaret Campbell Barnes and first published in the early 1960s, follows the life of Frances Stuart, the woman who was the model for Britannia. Frances Stuart was related to the Royal House of Stuart and this story begins during the Stuarts’ exile in France following the English Civil Wars and ends during… Read on
A few years ago, I went to a classical violin concert at the Wigmore Hall in London. The music selected was the kind you tend to get on Radio 3, slightly weird, postmodern, and lacking any discernible melody. I was absolutely bored out of my mind until the end when the violinist played Massenet’s Meditation from Thais. Given… Read on
Today, we welcome Elizabeth St.John, author of The Lady in the Tower, a novel set in the seventeenth century. Heads up, folks, Elizabeth will be giving an Author Talk at Lydiard House as part of the Swindon Festival of Literature on May 4th, 2017. The Vertues of Gilberts Water and other Curatives from Lady Johanna’s Recipe Book by… Read on
Fact, Fiction and Fantasy in a Seventeenth Century Setting I think of myself as a writer of historical fiction. I write books set in the past, using real events to securely locate the stories in time and place while creating characters and tales that are entirely fictitious. This would seem to me to be pretty much the definition… Read on
The Seventeenth Century Lady Interview with Paul Workman. The seventeenth century had some amazing art, and it’s no wonder that some of that brilliant art continues to inspire artists in our day. Paul Workman is a perfect example of this, for he is an artist who, inspired by the likes of major portraitists such as Peter Lely, makes… Read on
After our stay at the Stonehenge campsite last Autumn, Gavin and I made our way to Marlborough, which is a lovely town in Wiltshire, England. This amazing house was built for and lived in by a wealthy seventeenth-century silk merchant named Thomas Bayly. The construction is believed to date from between 1653 and 1700, and the interiors have… Read on
Good day to you all! There are a number of things to mention here today. In April, I was one of the first contributors to the brand-new history magazine, History of Royals, and I was delighted to write a feature on the Romanovs. It was a wonderful experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed researching that imperial family from 1613-1918.… Read on
The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace recently opened their latest exhibition, Maria Merian’s Butterflies on the 15th of April, 2016. According to the Press Office: “The exhibition will tell the extraordinary story of 17th-and-18th-century artist and explorer Maria Sibylla Merian through the superb collection of her work in the Royal Collection. In 1699, at the age of 52, Merian… Read on
I’ve travelled from England to Scotland so many times since I was a kid I’ve lost count. Perhaps that is why I find Robert Carey’s ride so interesting. But it was when I was standing before the gates of Richmond Palace, the place where the Tudor dynasty ended, that I really felt that I wanted to tell the… Read on
Released in 2015 in the US and 2016 in the UK, The Witch: A New England Folktale is soon to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK, having been in theatres in March. Having heard very good things about this film from friends in the US, I finally have the time to review it here. The… Read on
The National Maritime Museum’s latest exhibition Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution is the largest-ever exhibition about Samuel Pepys and has over 200 objects on display (some of which come from private collections!). Early last month, I attended a private viewing of this exhibition, and I finally have time to write my thoughts about it. With such a packed title, you… Read on
Masters of the Everyday, a new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. For the purposes of this review, I will only be focusing on the 17th-century exhibition, although there is another which is being presented at the same time, High Spirits: The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson, comprising works from one of the wittiest and most popular caricaturists of… Read on
Good day to you! I can’t believe it’s Monday again – time certainly has been flying by. Today, we have something a little different from what I usually post on TSCL. I don’t usually do these tagged posts, but as I was tagged by Annelisa, who has been so kind to me on Twitter, I thought why not? … Read on
Good day to you! I’ve been reading a lot, as usual, and these are some of my reviews of the recent books about 17th-century history that I’ve read, which may be of interest to you as well. Mark Kishlansky’s Charles I: An Abbreviated Life What a breath of fresh air was this book! All the time, one hears… Read on
Hear ye! Hear ye! Today marks the relaunch of The Seventeenth Century Lady Podcast on iTunes, which we started back in 2013. What accounts for the two-year delay? Well, I started writing and my husband and I moved from one end of the country to the other. We’re aiming to deliver a professional, quality podcast to you every… Read on
On Saturday, I held my first-ever physical book launch at the Guildhall here in Windsor, England. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the Ascot Room in which my launch was held was just as lovely. The room has many portraits of notable historical figures and has lovely stained glass windows, an ornate chandelier in the middle of… Read on
Back in August, my husband and I went camping for one week during our travels throughout Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset. Whilst we stayed at the campsite near Bovington in Dorset, we traveled down past Weymouth and to the island of Portland. What possible seventeenth-century connections could be there? Well, quite a lot, as I soon found out.… Read on
Thank you so much for hosting me today, Andrea. I love having an opportunity to share my passion for the 17th century with a soul sister! I thought I would take a moment to talk about the inspiration behind my recent release THE KING’S MAN which is set at the height of the Interregnum (1654). So often truth… Read on
This week’s camping has taken us into the Berkshire countryside, where we stayed at a lovely campground a pleasantly long walk from the village of Hurley. This idyllic village is precisely the sort of place foreigners like me imagine an English village to be. There are beautiful old buildings, some of which date back to the 12th century!… Read on
Back during my trip to Venice in early April, I visited one of the most notorious prisons there. The Palazzo della Prigioni (also known by its nickname, Piombi) is the former prison, which is connected to the Palazzo Ducale by the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). Construction began on this building back in the 16th century, so… Read on